Oldest person in U.S. dies; Pennsylvania woman was 114

In this photo from Aug. 16, 2017, Delphine Gibson smiles during her 114th birthday party while in her bed at AristaCare at Huntingdon Park, in Huntingdon, Pa. Gibson, who was the oldest person in the United States according to the Robert D Heath Funeral Home in Mount Union, Pa., died Wednesday, May 9, 2018. (April Feagley/The Daily News, Huntingdon via AP)(Photo: April Feagley / AP)

Kammi Plummer, admissions director at AristaCare at Huntingdon Park, where Gibson lived most recently, told the Altoona Mirror she informed Gibson when she became the oldest living American.

“She just kind of acted surprised and said, ‘You don’t say?’” Plummer said. “We also told her she was she prettiest. She just said, ‘I know that.’”

Born Delphine Tucker on Aug. 17, 1903, in Ridgeway, South Carolina, she helped on her family’s farm until she married Taylor Gibson in 1928.

In this photo from Aug. 16, 2017, State Department of Aging Secretary Teresa Osborne, left gives Delphine Gibson, a commemorative plaque during her 114th birthday party while in her bed at AristaCare at Huntingdon Park, in Huntingdon, Pa. Gibson, who was the oldest person in the United States according to the Robert D Heath Funeral Home in Mount Union, Pa., died Wednesday, May 9, 2018. (April Feagley/The Daily News, Huntingdon via AP)(Photo: April Feagley / AP)

The couple lived for a time in North Carolina then moved to Mount Union to join a growing community of African-Americans who came up from the South to work in the area’s now-historic brickyards. The couple had three children.

Her husband worked at Harbison Walker Refractories for 20 years before retiring in 1962, according to his obituary. He died in 1980.

She became the country’s oldest person following the February 2017 death of 114-year-old Adele Dunlap, of Flemington, New Jersey.

Gibson’s funeral will be Saturday at Mount Hope Baptist Church in Mount Union.